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Facebook to Open New York Engineering Office

(Mashable Tech) - Facebook is expanding its engineering operations to the East Coast of the U.S. with a new engineering office in New York City, the company announced Friday.

The office will open early next year, according to a statement issued by the company. Applications are now being accepted at facebook.com/nycjobs. “New York has a strong history of innovation and is home to thousands of talented technical people, and we want them to help us solve the challenges of designing and building the next generation of Facebook,” said Mike Schroepfer, Facebook’s vice president of engineering.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who was part of the press event announcing the new office, proudly noted that this is Facebook’s first engineering operation outside of the West Coast. Serkan Piantino, a longtime Facebook engineer, will head the company’s engineering efforts in New York.

Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer, was joined at the press conference, which was held in the company’s Manhattan headquarters, by Mike Schroepfer, Facebook’s head of engineering, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer and Mayor Bloomberg.

“We are looking for the smartest folks. And after detailed analysis, the best place by a large margin was New York,” said Schroepfer.

Bloomberg urged other tech companies to move to New York City. “I think you’ll find this is the best place to recruit and retain the world’s top talent,” he said. “Don’t wait for your competitors to move here and get the best talent.”

Sen. Schumer provided some levity during the press conference, noting that both he and Bloomberg have actually met one Facebook employee “over 26.” He then glanced over at the 42-year-old Sandberg. The Facebook exec also joined in the fun. When Schumer said, “It’s hard to say that a company has changed the way we live.” Sandberg shouted from the side, “Go ahead, say it.” Schumer then continued, “but in the case of Facebook, it really has.”

Sandberg said Facebook did not know how many engineers they would hire next year. “We’ll hire as much as we can,” she said. She also noted that the company would probably need more office space.

In a follow-up interview, Mashable asked Sandberg why Facebook was hiring engineers in a city where engineering talent is already scarce. “New York is a great place to live,” she said, noting that it can sometimes be difficult for those educated on the East Coast to make the move west. She did not confirm whether CEO Mark Zuckerberg would be spending more time in New York, or if an existing group of Facebook engineers would be moved from the West Coast.

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